The present invention relates to an automatic program locating system for tape decks for skipping a desired number of programs recorded on the tape at the fast movement speed and going on to the program following the desired number of programs.
Program head positioning systems responsive to a silence between recorded programs on a tape during fast movement of the tape have been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,665,117, to Theophiel Clement Jozef Lodewijk Staar entitled TAPE CARTRIDGE APPARATUS INCLUDING A SILENCE RESPONSIVE POSITIONING CONTROL, issued on May 23, 1972, and the U.S. Pat. No. 3,723,666, to Leonard A. Ferrari entitled METHOD FOR DISTINGUISHING PAUSES IN RECORDED FEATURES DURING REPLAY THEREOF, issued on Mar. 27, 1973 illustrate systems of this type.
The program head positioning systems of the prior art are responsive to a silence between recorded passages on the tape during fast movement of the tape and cause the tape drive to stop or shift to its normal playback speed when only one silence between recorded passages is detected. When it is desired to skip more than one of the programs recorded on the tape, the operator must repeat the introduction of the command to position the head of the following program until the head of the desired program is positioned at the playback head. This results in a time consuming and troublesome process. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a novel automatic program locator for tape decks.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic program head positioning system suitable for positioning a head of a desired program recorded on a tape at a playback head after skipping one or more programs recorded on the tape at a fast movement speed.
Other objects and further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
To achieve the above objectives, pursuant to the present invention, there is provided a down counter and a key board panel for introducing and storing a desired number corresponding to a desired number of programs which should be skipped at a fast movement speed. The contents of the down counter are decreased once for every occurence of a detection signal representative of the silence between recorded passages from a silence detection system which can be of a conventional construction. The tape drive is stopped or shifted to its normal playback speed when the contents of the down counter become zero after passing the desired number of programs. An indication unit is preferrably provided for indicating the contents of the down counter, thereby enabling the operator to confirm the operation of the automatic program locator of the present invention.